Shreveport – Excitement surrounds the Centenary lacrosse program as the Gents embark upon their fourth season as a varsity program in 2023.
The Maroon and White begin their journey on the road as they will face Hendrix College in a non-conference contest on Wednesday evening in Conway, Ark. The Gents and Warriors will meet at 7 p.m. at Young-Wise Memorial Stadium.
The Gents will compete in the Heartland Collegiate Lacrosse Conference (HCLC) for the second season and will play seven conference contests and five non-conference games. Centenary was picked to finish fifth this season in the HCLC preseason poll released last week.
"We are very excited about this season," said head coach Billy LeClair. "I am excited about our schedule overall and we feel that a few of the games we have scheduled will be great tests to see how this season will pan out."
"We feel confident that the team will be prepared but it will come down to us being consistent in all phases of the game."
LeClair was named head coach in September and enters his third season with the Gents in 2023. LeClair was promoted to Associate Head Coach in June, 2021 and helped lead the Maroon and White to a 4-7 season in 2022 which was punctuated with a dominant 17-3 non-conference victory over the Warren Wilson College Owls on April 15 as the Gents finished with four wins in their final five games. CJ Seling, who served as head coach for the past three seasons, remains on staff as assistant coach.
The Gents' home opener will be on Saturday, Feb. 11 against Cornell College at 11 a.m. and then they will be off for nearly two weeks before hitting the road again for a pair of non-conference contests at Huntingdon College (Feb. 24 at 7 PM) and LaGrange College (Feb. 26 at Noon).
Centenary will play three games in the month of March, all taking place at the friendly confines of Mayo Field and all against HCLC foes – versus Hanover College on Wednesday, March 1 at 7 PM, Spalding University on Thursday, March 16 at 7 PM for Senior Night, and finally Earlham College at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 18 for its Alumni Spotlight.
"We are really looking forward to our home games this year. Knowing that we have the support from the school and community we are so appreciative of. We are all excited to show off what we've been doing this off-season. We as a coaching staff are very blessed to have the buy in from the team. I'm ecstatic to see these young men play as a team and have our first recruiting class lead the way."
The Gents will play their final five games of the season on the road, beginning on Saturday, April 1 at Anderson University (Ind.) at Noon and will then face Mount St. Joseph University on Sunday, April 2 at Noon. The Maroon and White will then travel to Colorado for a pair of games- Friday, April 7 for a neutral site contest against Whittier College at 3 PM and then Sunday, April 9 at Colorado College at 1 PM. The Gents then finish the regular season at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas on Saturday, April 15 at 1 PM.
Centenary finished 4-1 on the road last season and after recording a 16-12 win over the Huntingdon College Hawks on April 13 in Montgomery, Ala., they wasted no time in establishing a new season high in goals in the season finale, scoring a whopping 33 goals in the final two games.
The Gents return a strong group of players which will be enhanced by a strong incoming class as 21 players are on this season's roster – seven seniors, three juniors, six sophomores, and five freshmen. Centenary scored 106 total goals last season, an average of 9.64/per game and had 41 assists. Six players are back that scored 10 or more goals each last season, and senior A/MF Mark Temple (Houston, Texas) is back after not playing last season following a 2021 sophomore campaign in which he scored 13 goals and earned all-conference honors.
Senior John Mark Waniewski (Bossier City, La.) scored 21 goals last season, second-most on the team, and added three assists for a total of 24 points. He was also named to the conference's Spring Sportsmanship Team. Sophomore A G'Colby Spivey (Dallas, Texas) was right behind him with 20 as he turned in a phenomenal rookie season, adding five assists for 25 points. Junior M/A Kyle Comi (Allen, Texas) scored 12 goals and ranked third on the team with six assists good for 18 points. Sophomore A Braxton Parchman (Shreveport, La.) tallied 11 goals and a team-high 11 assists for a total of 22 points.
Junior D Matthew Lulich (New Orleans, La.) was named All-HCLC second team last season as one of the conference's top defensive players. He started all 11 games and recorded 27 ground balls (third on team), 17 caused turnovers, and one assist. Senior D Ethan Little (Tyler, Texas) is back after starting all 11 games last season and promises to once again be a force on defense after he led the team with 20 caused turnovers and tied for third with 27 ground balls. Senior D Chris Dant (Bossier City, La.) will team with Lulich and Little to anchor the defensive side of the ball as he has played in 24 games in his career with 44 ground balls and 14 caused turnovers.
Sophomore GK Alex Nicks-Davis (Nashville, Tenn.) played in 10 games as a rookie in goal for the Gents last season and made nine starts as their primary goalkeeper. He made a team-high 110 saves with a 47.6 save percentage and finished fourth in the HCLC in saves per game and his season-best 24 saves versus Southwestern were the second-most in a single game all season in the league. He also had six games with 10 or more saves.
Additional returnees are senior MF Blake Federico (Boerne, Texas), junior LSM Jackson Ossman (Shreveport, La.), junior LSM Ben Vazquez (San Antonio, Texas), sophomore GK Jason Turner (Bossier City, La.), sophomore GK Dylan Miller (Shreveport, La.), sophomore D Kaleb Coates (Shreveport, La.), and senior Def. MF Caleb Smith (Dallas, Texas).
Five freshmen join the Gents' roster this season – freshman FO Chris Masterson (Zachary, La.), freshman MF Xavier Nixon (Dallas, Texas), freshman MF Dominic Ogier (St. Louis, Mo.), freshman MF Seven Davillier (Shreveport, La.), and freshman A Liam Johns (Shreveport, La.). Davillier and Johns were teammates at Captain Shreve High School last season and join Parchman, Ossman, Miller, and Coates to give Centenary a total of six former Gators on the squad. The Gents' roster includes 11 in-state players, eight from the neighboring state of Texas, one from Missouri, and one from Tennessee.
See the complete Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mlax/2022-23/schedule
Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests. Live stats and live video stream are available for all Centenary home contests.
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